Wireless communication systems are known to employ registration methods in which a remote unit (such as a cellular subscriber) is registered with the communication system. In particular, when a remote unit initially accesses a communication system, the remote unit transmits a registration message via a reverse control channel. The registration message contains the remote unit's electronic serial number (ESN) and is utilized for notifying the infrastructure equipment of the location of the remote unit.
Because remote unit registration requires messages to be transmitted over a reverse control channel, simultaneous registration by multiple remote units can easily overload a communication system's reverse control channel. For example, during a cell outage, remote units that were in communication with the cell will simultaneously attempt to register with any underlying communication system, potentially causing an overload of the reverse control channel.
Thus a need exists for a method and apparatus for registering a remote unit in a communication system that overcomes the deficiencies described above.